This BAML Triathlete Trader Organizes Spin Classes For His Team, And Everyone's In A Better Mood

Fallon carrying his
daughter across the finish line at the NYC
half-marathonCourtesy of Tim
Fallon

Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch trader Tim Fallon has lost count
of how many triathlons he's completed, but he estimates it's
somewhere around 75.

"I try to do six, seven, or eight a year and then maybe two
marathons," Fallon explained with an ease fitting of a trip to
the grocery store, hardly his annual calender of Olympic Distance
triathlons.

And maybe that's because Fallon has this routine down pat; the
36-year-old director of CMO trading has been racing these 1.5 km
swim–40 km bike–10 km run events since 2004.

As these things tend to happen, it was a friend who brought
Fallon to his first race.

"My friend got me into it, he said this something he thought I
would really like," Fallon explained. "I had a bad race, I saw
guys who shouldn't have beat me, beat me."

Bad race or not, Fallon was hooked, and determined not to let
these guys beat him again.

"It's kind of like a snowball, you want to work out harder. You
become a better version of yourself," he explained. "And there
are tertiary benefits. You start sleeping better, moving better,
eating better. From a health standpoint, these things really
turned everything around."

Though these benefits are hardly surprising for a triathlete, the
way they've pervaded Fallon's professional life is. At BAML,
Fallon has set up spinning classes two mornings a week and often
brings clients to classes in the evenings. As far as he can tell,
the morning classes put everyone who goes in a "noticeably better
mood."

These classes help Fallon balance his work and training
schedules, but alone, they're not enough. Fallon typically wakes
up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. and does cardio and weight training
before heading into the office. He sees his racing habit as a
great "competitive outlet," and often runs into people with
similar professional backgrounds.